Satellite communications have made communications accessible and available at any point in time from any point on Earth. Whether at sea, in the air, or on land, customers demand continuous broadband connectivity for a variety of communications including telephony, internet, and television, as well as monitoring, command, and control. Applications demand various bandwidths and frequencies, as well as real-time, accurate, and quality communications.
Referring to FIG. 12, a diagram of geostationary satellites showing transmission interference, as the demand for communication increases, and more and more satellites are being placed in geostationary orbit 1200 around the Earth 1210. As geostationary satellites are being positioned closer and closer to each other, the geostationary orbit, or arc of geostationary satellites, has become more “crowded in space”. This physical proximity between adjacent satellites, currently standing at typical values of around 2 degrees, requires transmitting Earth stations 1212 to limit the Earth station's effective incident radiated power (EIRP) per bandwidth toward the adjacent satellites. A plot of antenna radiation patterns 1202 shows mainlobe transmission to a target satellite 1204 and sidelobes with can interfere with other satellites, such as satellites in adjacent orbit (1206A, 1206B). Further information can be found in the paper Satellite Regulations and Type Approvals for Mobile Satcom Systems by Guy Naym, published in Worldwide Satellite Magazine, October 2008.
Current antenna solutions trade-off system size, weight, cost, capability, and in particular antenna size and radome size, to provide a given level of performance to users. The performance of antenna systems effects many areas, in particular the legal requirements to meet international specifications and the operating costs for users. Operating costs include the costs for providing the desired service, as well as additional and penalty costs when antenna systems do not meet the satellite regulations transmission specifications (to avoid interference to adjacent satellites) for the area in which the antenna system is operating.
There is therefore a need for a method and system for transmitting and receiving communication signals with a reduced sized antenna system while meeting the required satellite communications regulations.